Talking with Silence
by Hazuzu
Summary: Adora and Catra find themselves in an abandoned prison cell where neither can hear the other. They have to put aside their alleigances to escape and explore the complex emotions that lead them there. F/F, yuri, Catra X Adora


"I know you're watching me, Catra," Adora announced. Her voice bounced off of the walls of the facility, smooth metal and shadows her only company. Her sword was slung across her back, ready to be drawn at any moment. "I'm gonna give you five seconds to come out and talk to me. Okay? Five… Four… Three..." She cast her gaze about the room and still saw nothing. "Two… One… A half… A quarter.. A tenth..."

She sighed. She didn't know why she expected that tactic to work. She couldn't even get Catra out of bed in time for training, and there weren't any stakes to that other than Catra's comfort.

"Okay, you've called my bluff. I'm an idiot. You've proven that now, so please, please will you ju-" Adora was cut off by a shadow passing overhead, a sudden loss of weight on her back, and then Catra was crouched before her. The Sword of Protection was in her hand and her eyes were narrowed, her mouth twisted into a smirk. Adora's first instinct was to lash out, demand her sword back, but she couldn't take that tack. "Cool trick."

"I know." Catra flexed her fingers around the hilt of the sword, then lunged forward. She brought it down in a slash, but Adora stepped to the side and kicked her leg out from under her. She shifted the sword to her free hand and used that one to catch her balance. She slashed sideways and Adora hopped back, just out of its reach, as Catra's toes dug into the gouge from her first slash. "Shouldn't you be surrendering right about now?"

"That's not really part of my plans." Adora weaved away from Catra's thrust, then hopped over the leg that sought to swipe away her footing. "But if you think it's a good idea," She grunted as she knocked Catra's powerful swing away from her, down into the ground. "Why don't you give it a try?"

"Ha!" Catra laughed. "You can barely beat me even when you're She-Ra." She leaned back, using her tail to balance herself, then suddenly shot forward for a flurry of slashes. Adora just barely managed to avoid each of them, but the floor took all of the beating for her. "Right now, you're small, and slow, and, what's the word?" She hummed as she tested Adora's defenses with swings and kicks and punches. "Gutless." Adora hadn't even thrown a punch yet. She'd be worn down before long.

"Gutless?" Adora scoffed. "You can't even stand up to yourself, Catra. If you thought for even a second, you'd know that you're wrong about the Horde. You're wrong about me. But you're too cowardly to admit that you might be wrong."

Catra hissed, her hackles raised, and she lashed out. Adora ducked below her wild swing and slipped behind her, strong arms wrapping around Catra's waist and pulling her in tight.

"And if you weren't so lazy, you might have learned how to use a sword," Adora whispered. Catra's ear twitched and she had no time to come up with a response, as Adora suddenly hefted her old friend over herself, up into the air and then back onto the sword-scarred floor behind them. The force of her back slamming into the metal was enough to make Catra cry out, but Adora's soon joined it as the floor gave way and both of them were sent hurtling towards the ground below.

Adora landed with a grunt, rolling to cancel her momentum, while Catra managed to twist through the air and land on all fours. The Sword of Protection clattered to the ground between them as a little buzz filled the air.

The room they were in was small, about twice as long as it was wide, and only as wide as the two of them put head-to-toe. The walls were sleek metal, with only one small indent – apparently a door, but with no keypad to make it slide open.

Adora started to crawl towards her sword while Catra caught her breath. A little closer, a few more inches, and she'd have it. She kept her breathing quiet, her movements subtle, until-

Catra snatched the sword off of the floor with her tail and brought it to her hand. She wasn't saying anything. Adora frowned and pulled her limbs back towards her, tried to pull herself up. She was aching from the fall, but at least she could move. What really bothered her was the fact that Catra wasn't saying anything. She'd normally be gloating, mocking her somehow, but she was just standing there, back to her, breathing.

Then Catra turned around and her mouth was moving quite rapidly, but no sound came out. She peered at Adora, slumped against the wall, and laughed… But no sound came out.

"Catra?" Adora winced. "What's wrong?"

"Aw, can't talk?" Catra laughed again as Adora's lips moved wordlessly. "Well, don't worry, you'll have nobody to talk to anyway." She tapped her sword against the wall. "I think I'll leave you here to think about what you've done. But don't get used to it – this is a nicer prison cell than you're gonna get in The Fright Zone. If I have anything to say about it, anyway."

Adora still wasn't saying anything. There was no spark of defiance in her eyes, no comeback to Catra's mocking, just her jaw bobbing up and down.

"Come on! Say something!" Catra ordered her friend. Where was the fun in picking on her if she didn't fight back? "I've got your sword! I've got you captured! None of your friends know you're here! I've got you all to myself." She flashed her fangs at Adora, but still, there was no recognition.

"What are you saying?" Adora asked. "Catra, I can't understand you." She was monologuing, that much was obvious, but she wasn't making a sound. "Wait a minute..." Her eyes widened in realization and Catra's did the same.

"I can't hear you!" They declared simultaneously, each silent to the other.

"Must be some kinda device to stop prisoners talking to each other. Guess there's no reason for me to stick around," Catra said out loud. "I'll see you soon, Adora. Get used to prison walls, because you're gonna be seeing a whole lot more of them in the future. Later." She bowed sardonically, then turned and leaped out the wall, her claws extended, ready to carry her all the way to the hole in the roof.

Adora laughed as Catra's claws found no purchase in the metal and she fell to the floor in a heap.

"Oh… Wow." Adora giggled, despite the glare that was burning a hole through her skull. "Sorry." It hadn't stopped being funny, but there was still a big part of her that didn't want to upset Catra. Some would call it her heart.

"Yeah, laugh it up," Catra scowled as she got to her feet and looked around. "Look at Catra, she can't even climb a wall right, she'll never be as good as me. I guess if you had claws you'd have climbed right up, huh?" But Adora couldn't hear her, obviously, judging by that stare. She'd stopped laughing, but that didn't make Catra feel any better. She had that sympathetic look, the kind she always got when Catra failed. "I don't need your pity!"

"Whoa, cool it with the claws," Adora held both hands up in front of her. "Look, let's just try to figure a way out of here, alright? A way..." She drew a line in the air. "Out." She jammed a thumb over her shoulder.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Catra sneered. "I'm not going to play charades in prison. I need to get out of here." She turned her side to Adora to look at the door. It was made of the same metal as the rest of the cell, the kind that slid to the side. There was the faintest of seams where it met the wall and she placed the pads of her fingers right on it, then pulled. Her fingers slid off just as easily as her claws had. "Come on! Open!" She slammed her fist into the door and was rewarded with bruised knuckles. "Damnit!"

"As straightforward as ever." Adora shook her head. "But I don't think we're going to be able to force our way out of here, strength of a cat or not." She stepped up to the door beside Catra. "Let's see..." She was suddenly shunted to the side by Catra's hip. "Hey! I'm trying to help here!"

"Stop getting in my wa- Oh, really?!" Catra snarled when she saw Adora scowling at her. "You want to fight me? Great idea, maybe you'll get us trapped in another prison. Maybe it'll take our sight, too, so I don't have to look at your stupid face any more."

"Put the sword down and maybe we can figure a way out of here." Adora held a cautioning hand out. She never thought her life might be saved by miming, but it was the best chance she had of calming Catra down.

"Yeah, like I'm gonna give you the sword." Catra clutched it tight to her chest, away from Adora's grasping hand. "I'm not going to let you abandon me again."

"Thank you." Adora let out a breath when the blade was out of cutting range. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. "If the door won't open, there's only one way we can get out of here."

"Stupid walls. Who makes their prisons cat-proof?" Catra muttered as she looked at the walls. There was still that hole right at the top of the prison, however many tens of feet above them it was. "If I could just get up there..."

"What we need is a grappling hook," Adora decided. "We just don't have a grapple. Or rope. Or anything to attach it to." She stroked her chin.

"I just have to latch something over the lip," Catra said.

"Got it." Adora snapped her fingers. "We just need to make a rope," she said, as she removed her jacket and put it to the floor. She took off her t-shirt next, then tied it to the arm of her jacket.

Catra's thinking was interrupted by the sound of clothes shuffling behind her. She turned around to see Adora stripped down to her sports bra, unbuckling her belt.

"What are you..." Catra couldn't stop herself from blushing. Her eyes didn't know where to look, flicking between the hole in the roof and the sight of her progressively more naked friend. Before long, Adora was only in her sports bra and athletic shorts. Then she pointed at Catra. "What?! I'm not gonna… You don't get to..." She backed away a little as Adora stepped up to her. Was she really going to try to seduce her while they were trapped?

Instead of lips on her lips, Catra felt a finger tapping at her headpiece.

"E-Eh?" Catra said, as Adora smiled at her and removed the headpiece, then tied it to the end of her makeshift rope. "You were… Oh." Of course she wasn't going to kiss her. That was a stupid thing to think. If she wanted to do that, she never would have ran away to join the Princesses. "Well done, Catra. Don't wait for Adora to make you look stupid, just do it to yourself. Stupid. Stupid!"

"Boom, one grappling hook." Adora grinned as she held up her rope. With Catra's spiky headpiece, it ought to have been enough to get them to the hole in the roof. She stepped back from Catra and whipped it around a couple of times, getting a feel for the weight, then tossed it up to the ceiling. It stretched and stretched...then fell to the floor before even reaching halfway. "Okay, first try didn't go so well. Let's try it again."

Catra watched Adora try to put more force behind the grappling hook, try to whip it around more, manually stretch out the clothing that made it up, but she was getting nowhere. It was cute, in its own way, seeing Adora struggle to accept that it just wasn't going to work out. But even she couldn't take watching Adora humiliate herself over and over again, so she lashed out on the seventh attempt and cut through one of the socks that made up the end of the grappling hook and replaced her headpiece.

"Hey!" Adora frowned at Catra, who was once more looking smug with her headpiece restored. Not that she could blame her; it wasn't going anywhere. "...you owe me a pair of socks." She said, as she started to pull her clothes back on.

Catra was fixated on the walls. If she were just taller, she could stretch out and use both sides to carry herself up. But she couldn't just get taller. Not unless…

"For the honor," Catra hefted the Sword of Protection over her head. "Of Grayskull!"

Nothing happened.

Adora laughed again, harder this time. Catra struggled to swallow her own laughter at herself.

"Whatever." Catra forced herself not to smile. She couldn't do that, she couldn't let Adora think that she wanted to laugh with her again. "Not like I really thought it was gonna work."

"It's nice seeing you like this." Adora told Catra. "Mostly the not trying to kill me part, but… It feels like we don't have to worry about the rest of the world when we're down here. You know?" She glanced over at Catra, who was doing the same with her own hand, on the other wall. "Of course you don't, because you can't hear me. I guess it's safe to say whatever I want, then. Number one, I know it was you who kept stealing my pillows in The Fright Zone. Not cool, Catra."

"Everyone thought you were better than me, like that was my fault. You've got whatever magic thing lets you wield that stupid sword," Catra muttered under her breath. "And you'd be all like, oh no, just push yourself harder, Catra. If you worked harder, they'd like you just as much. Then you'd go back on it and say oh no I'm sorry, I was just mad, I love you, Catra. Well, which is it? Couldn't even keep track of your stupid platitudes, couldn't decide if you wanted to side with me or all those jerks. Oh, Adora, we adore her! Catra? What's she done for us lately? Only been one of the best fighters in the Horde with barely any training..."

"And I wish you wouldn't get so mad at me for trying..." Adora sighed as she put her other hand on the wall. "I liked spending time with you, too. More than training. That was all it was. I wanted to do well, but that didn't mean I didn't care about you. I wanted you to do it with me. So we could be the best together. Even when we got mad at each other, all I wanted to do was see you smile. I still wish I could see that, but… I guess there's not much chance of that happening soon, is there?"

"Even if I were the best Force Captain ever, they wouldn't care." Catra shook her head. "They're just a bunch of mooks with nothing better to do than tear me down. You were the only one who even saw me for me… And then you had to go and leave. And it's just… It's lonely, okay? I thought I was alone when you were there, but I was wrong. I didn't know it until you were gone and now I have to deal with it and… No matter what I do, you'll still be gone."

"Wait..." Both girls turned around to face each other, their hands on the wall. "I know how to get out!" They said, simultaneously, and their smiles met.

Catra sunk to the floor and Adora did the same, their feet meeting in the space between them.

"That feels weird." Adora said, as the bottoms of her feet touched Catra's. But she wasn't about to put on boots without socks, no matter how odd it felt. She watched as Catra struggled to find a place to store her sword, first trying to tuck it into her belt, then into her shirt, but it kept slipping out. Adora held her hand out to Catra, offered her a smile… And got a stuck-out tongue in response. "You're unbelievable." She shook her head, then tossed her sheathe to Catra.

Catra wrapped the sheathe around herself, then slid the sword inside. It fit snugly, though the belt that kept it in place sat baggy on her. But at least she had both hands free now, to brace herself against the wall. Adora did the same and she counted down from three, slowly, mouthing each word. When she got to one, Adora pushed against her.

"Hey!" Catra hissed, and shoved back against Adora's feet, pinning her knees to her chest. "We go on go!"

Adora shoved back against Catra. She could guess what she was mad about, but it wasn't like they'd set an etiquette for wall-shimmying. This time, she pushed when Catra mouthed to go, and they began the long process of shimmying up the wall. Made only longer by the fact that Catra kept pushing against her, more and more as they got higher and higher.

"Are you...kidding me?" Adora grunted, as she used all the muscles in her legs and her arms to keep their balance in the middle. "There aren't any winners in joint shimmying!" But her words fell on deaf ears. She just had to deal with it and try not to think about the fall that waited them below if either of them ended up overpowering the other. Their hands on the walls and their coupled legs were the only thing preventing them from meeting gravity in the worst way.

She thought it would never end just as they reached the top and she and Catra had to maneuver their legs together in one joint swing that took them over the lip of the hole. They each used their arms to crawl onto flat ground, where they collapsed. The only sound that filled the air was their panting as they caught their breaths. They rolled their heads to glance at each other, their eyes met, and each of them broke into a giggling fit.

"I.. Totally… Won..." Catra breathed.

"Nu-uh." Adora shook her head. "We both won."

"Yeah." Catra nodded. "Thanks to me."

"If I weren't so tired, I would go over there, and wipe that smirk right off of your face."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah?!"

"Yeah!" Adora lunged at Catra and fell across her back, pinning the slimmer girl beneath her. "Done."

"Get...offa...me…!" Catra pushed against the ground, but her arms were too worn out. "You're dead, Adora."

"Thanks for letting me know."

"In...five minutes. On the sixth, you're dead."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Catra let herself laugh again, but it was a small and quickly-smothered thing. It was followed by a sigh. "We're going to have to fight again, y'know. For real."

"We don't have to..."

"Yeah we do. You know why."

"Then be quiet," Adora whispered. "The world isn't going to end if we enjoy the next five minutes."

"Four minutes and thirty seconds."

"Smartass."

"Goody two-shoes."


End file.
